


Lazy Afternoons

by TheAdamantDaughter



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Dadko, F/M, Momtara, Zutara
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-06
Updated: 2016-07-06
Packaged: 2018-07-21 20:32:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 894
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7402867
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheAdamantDaughter/pseuds/TheAdamantDaughter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sunny naps with the Fire Lord and his newborn</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lazy Afternoons

The council adjourned for five minutes, but five minutes was all Zuko needed.

He was out the golden double doors and halfway across the palace before anyone even noticed his disappearance, much less demanded a reason for it. _Hell,_ it'd take them a quarter hour to realize he wasn't actually in the bathroom and by then, he'd be sunbathing in the gardens with his favorite girl.

The thought alone was enough to lift his shoulders.  _Him, Kya, the warm, sunny afternoon._

With a light chuckle on his lips, Zuko turned down the last hall to the nursery, silently noting that his wife was no where to be seen. A pang ran through his chest. He missed her, just as much as he missed his daughter, but he decided her absence was all for the best. She was likely attending to different demands at the Spring Water Hospital, not to mentionshe'd likely drag him right back to the meeting.

He peeked into a still, dimly lit room, bowing slightly to the nurse who tended to the new princess, "Is Kya awake?"

"She just went down," the woman explained, but she caught Zuko's downtrodden expression, "Although, she'll probably sleep better with her dad."

The Fire Lord smiled, nodding his agreement as the nurse vanished deeper into the dark room. She returned a few moments later, cradling a lumpy bundle of red cloth, which she handed to him now, teasing him softly, "Careful, your Highness. If the Fire Lady learns you're absconding the Princess from her naps, I can't promise your safety."

"I can handle her." Zuko clutched the small bundle to his chest, his grin turning to that lopsided smirk that his wife loved when Kya stirred slightly against him. "But- I trust you can keep a secret?"

"I always do, Sir."

* * *

Minutes later, Zuko was out the servant's entrance and pacing across the East Garden towards a weeping willow just beside the turtleduck pond.

It was his favorite spot. It always had been - since the long passed days feeding the ducklings with his mother, since the days almost a decade ago, flirting playfully with his then fiancee, and since the most recent days of sneaking away from meetings with Kya to snooze in the cool shade.

She may hardly be able to crawl, but Zuko was convinced that Kya loved this place too.

Like every other afternoon they'd spent here, Zuko shifted her to his left arm, untied his robes and dumped his boots on the lawn. He kicked the garments into a makeshift pillow, discarding Kya's blanket as well, so she was dressed only in a simple blue onesie. It was too warm for much more.

He squatted carefully, being sure not to wake her as he lay back on his robes, and then Zuko ran his fingers gently down her back.

 _This was it._  This was all he lived for - the steady breeze around them, the symphony of rustling leaves, the grass tickling his bare back and Kya warming his abdomen. Every breath she took made him feel more alive. Every little murmur or squall or laugh from her brought a lightness to his heart that had never existed before, not even in the arms of Katara.

His life was full now, it was complete. He had the unconditional love of his wife and the pure love of a child. Both, he knew, he would never lose and both, he'd cherish until his dying day.

Zuko glanced down at her now, pulling his attention from the fluffy clouds to the fluffy shock of black hair on Kya's head. The wind tousled the curls and he smoothed them down, smiling at the little curve of her nose and the way her fists were balled up so tight.

He nudged her left hand with his finger, his heart jumping when Kya latched on to him, and a little tune came to his mind. It was over twenty five years old, a short nursery rhyme his mother sang to Azula, but the words came to him easily:

_You are my sunshine, my only sunshine  
You make me happy when skies are grey_

"I thought I was your sunshine." Katara's voice, cheery and playful, drifted over the yard to him.

Zuko lifted his head, grinning sheepishly in her direction, "You're my moonshine."

"So I get you drunk?"

"Drunk, high, whatever you want to call it. You're still my moonshine," He patted the ground beside him, making room for her between his arm and his ribs when she laid down with them.

Katara's fingers joined his, tracing little shapes across Kya's back. "So this is where my daughter has been vanishing to every time the council holds meetings."

"Kya sleeps better out here and the well being of my only heir is far more important than the price of wheat," Zuko smirked, but his happy facade fell away with a sigh, "Did they send you out here?"

"What do you think?" She turned her face up towards his, her palm resting gently atop Kya, "I'll tell them I couldn't find you."

"Thank you, love." Zuko tightened his grip on them both, pressing his lips to Katara's forehead and closing his eyes with the warmth of the sun. "Stay with us? If the council can't find me, they won't find you either."

His wife nodded on his chest, "Always."


End file.
